ELECTIONS : Primary results Could Be Decisive

SAN GABRIEL VALLEY — Some familiar political faces will begin fading from the scene and their replacements will emerge in June 2 primaries that are shaping up as more important than the November general election in deciding who will represent the San Gabriel Valley in Sacramento and Washington.

A congressman, two state senators and six Assembly members who currently serve parts of the San Gabriel Valley will end their representation of the area this year either because they are retiring or are running in revamped districts elsewhere.

Rep. Edward R. Roybal, whose district includes part of Pasadena, is retiring after 30 years in the House. State Sens. Don Rogers (R-Bakersfield), who represents part of Pasadena, and Bill Leonard (R-Big Bear), who represents the northeastern part of the San Gabriel Valley, are running for new terms in districts outside the area.

Assembly members Sally Tanner (D-Baldwin Park) and William H. Lancaster (R-Covina) are retiring. Assemblyman Xavier Becerra (D-Monterey Park) is running for Congress in an East Los Angeles-Silver Lake-Echo Park district. And Assemblymen Jim Brulte (R-Ontario), Pat Nolan (R-Glendale) and Richard Polanco (D-Los Angeles) are running in redrawn Assembly districts that no longer extend into the San Gabriel Valley.

The changes mean political opportunity, but because most of the districts are lopsided in party registration, the crucial election is the primary. The Democratic nominees will be heavily favored in some districts and the Republican nominees in others.

In addition to the battles for the open seats, the June primary will offer a strong test for at least two incumbents, Assemblyman Paul Horcher (R-Diamond Bar) and Rep. Matthew G. Martinez (D-Monterey Park.)

Horcher won a close race in a bitter Republican primary two years ago in which a last-minute endorsement from Sen. Frank Hill (R-Whittier) may have made the difference. But since then, Hill and Horcher have been at odds.

60th Assembly District

West Covina, Diamond Bar, Walnut

The heavily Republican 60th District will probably be decided in the Republican primary.

Hill told The Times last month that he would remain neutral in Horcher’s primary race with Diamond Bar Councilwoman Phyllis Papen. Hill said Horcher had been untrustworthy, telling him he would vote one way and then voting another. In addition, he said, Horcher had switched positions on issues ranging from abortion to the environment, depending on the audience he was addressing.

“You can’t tell people just what they want to hear,” Hill said. “Eventually it catches up with you.”

But since he made those remarks, Hill said he has been persuaded by Republican leaders--including the governor’s office--to reconsider his position on grounds that Republicans shouldn’t be squabbling among themselves when reapportionment is offering so many opportunities to win seats from Democrats. So, Hill said, he plans to meet with Horcher and may endorse him after all.

Still, Horcher could be in political trouble anyway over the lingering resentments from his 1990 primary campaign and his support of a state budget that required tax increases. Papen also hopes to capitalize on an anti-incumbent mood.

Planning to face Horcher or Papen in November are Stan Caress, a political science professor from West Covina, who is the only Democratic candidate in the race, and Robert Lewis of Rowland Heights, a strong advocate of term limits, who is running on the American Independent ticket.

31st Congressional

Alhambra, Monterey Park, El Monte

Baldwin Park, Rosemead, Azusa

For Rep. Martinez, 63, a five-term incumbent, a tough primary campaign is nothing new. In 1984, Gladys (Candy) Danielson, whose husband formerly held the congressional seat, tried to beat Martinez with a campaign that accused him of being lazy and ineffective.

In 1988, former Monterey Park Mayor Lily Chen mounted a campaign that portrayed Martinez as sleazy and inept.

Martinez won both elections decisively and also has beaten back well-financed Republican challenges from time to time, but he still wears the label of political vulnerability.

This time he faces a challenger who is, like himself, a Latino Democrat. Bonifacio Bonny Garcia, 35, an attorney who lives in San Gabriel, has raised $60,000 although he refuses to take money from political action committees.

Garcia’s campaign is stressing credentials that include his graduation magna cum laude from Loyola Marymount University in 1978, his 1981 law degree from Harvard, and his partnership in the City of Commerce law firm of Barbosa, Garcia, Morillo & Barnes.

What’s missing in that picture, said Martinez, is any evidence of government service. “When I ran I had a track record,” Martinez said. “I had been on the planning commission, the city council and the Assembly. People saw what I did. Nobody has seen what he’s done.”

The campaign is just beginning but already Garcia has assailed Martinez on allegations of absenteeism and accused him of abusing his franking privilege by mailing letters to registered voters urging them to vote and telling them how to register.

Garcia said the mailing was a campaign gimmick at taxpayer expense. “It makes no sense whatsoever to use taxpayers’ moneys to urge registered voters to register to vote,” he said.

Martinez, who sent the letter to about 95,000 registered voters, said he did so because he has no other mailing list. The letter served its purpose, he said, because his office has received 300 requests for voter registration forms since the mailing.

In addition to Martinez and Garcia, the Democratic primary field contains two other candidates: A. Gus Hernandez, 57, a Monterey Park resident who runs a trade school in Montebello, and Louis A. M. Ritchie, 33, an independent contract printer from West Covina.

Reuben D. Franco, a Monterey Park businessman who was the Republican nominee two years ago, is seeking his party’s nomination again, along with Nick (Nisar) Hai, an Alhambra engineer-contractor. Erik A. Johnson, an Alhambra businessman, has filed as a Libertarian candidate.

With retirements and reapportionment, the San Gabriel Valley will gain at least five new Assembly members.

44th Assembly

Pasadena, South Pasadena, San Marino, Temple City

Altadena, La Canada Flintridge

Redistricting created a new Assembly district, the 44th in which Republicans outnumber Democrats only by a slight margin. Because Republicans are more reliable voters than Democrats, the Republican nominee will be strongly favored to win the seat.

It is shaping up as a wide-open race. There are 10 Republican candidates: Stephen Acker, an attorney and former Pasadena council member; Roy Begley, a writer and political volunteer of Pasadena; Bob Bell, a computer consultant of La Crescenta; T. H. Choi, a business owner of Pasadena; Bill Hoge, a Pasadena insurance agent; Robert Oltman, a Pasadena businessman; Maurine Petteruto, a Temple City homemaker; Barbara Pieper, a member of the county school board and former mayor of La Canada Flintridge; Lee David Prentiss, a police detective and former South Pasadena councilman, and Wilbert L. Smith, a banker who serves on the Pasadena school board.

Hoge may have emerged as the candidate to beat after picking up endorsements from the two assemblymen who currently represent most of the area, Richard Mountjoy (R-Monrovia) and Nolan. The two lawmakers, who are seeking reelection in neighboring districts, said Hoge shares their commitment to a “conservative agenda” that includes opposition to tax increases.

John Vollbrecht, a Los Angeles builder; Jonathan S. Fuhrman, a warehouse systems manager, of Pasadena, and Daniel I. Hurst, a Pasadena computer consultant, are seeking the Democratic nomination.

Ken Saurenman, a Pasadena contractor, is unopposed in the Libertarian Party.

In three other Assembly districts, all heavily Democratic, there are several strong candidates.

57th Assembly

Azusa, Baldwin Park, El Monte

Hacienda Heights, Irwindale

La Puente

Competing to succeed Tanner are Edward L. Chavez, a La Puente councilman; Hilda Solis, a member of the Rio Hondo College board, and Anthony Fellow, a university professor and member of the Upper San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District board of El Monte.

Chavez, who is an aide to Tanner, has her endorsement, but Solis has several other endorsements, including that of County Supervisor Gloria Molina, and Fellow is counting on support he has developed as a longtime political volunteer and as a leader in efforts to deal with the region’s ground water pollution.

The Republican contenders are Gary Woods, a member of the Citrus College board, and Michael K. Stark, executive with an El Monte recycling business. The lone Libertarian candidate is Bruce Dovner, a college mathematics instructor from Whittier.

49th Assembly

Alhambra, Monterey Park, San Gabriel

Rosemead

The race to succeed Becerra in the neighboring 49th Assembly District is also highly competitive.

The Democratic field includes three attorneys who list Alhambra addresses: Richard Amador, who specializes in business law; Richard Fajardo, who recently started a public interest law firm after leaving the staff of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, and Robert Gomez, a senior deputy county counsel. They will compete with Diane Martinez, a Garvey school board member who lives in Monterey Park and is the daughter of Rep. Martinez.

Others seeking the office are Libertarian Kim Goldsworthy, a computer programmer, and Republicans Beth Fujishige, administrative assistant to the city manager in Monterey Park, and Sophie C. Wong, member of the Alhambra school board.

58th Assembly

South El Monte

The third strongly Democratic Assembly district is the 58th, which extends south to include Norwalk, Santa Fe Springs, Whittier, Pico Rivera and Montebello. South El Monte Councilman Raul Pardo and Albert Perez Jr., an attorney whose father is on the South El Monte council, are among the Democratic contenders.

The other Democrats are Armando Duron, a Montebello attorney; Grace Musquiz Napolitano, a Norwalk councilwoman, and Rick D. Sanchez, a Cerritos Community College board member.

Also running are Republican Ken Gow, a research engineer, and Libertarian John P. McCready, a social science teacher, both from Whittier.

61st Assembly

Most of Pomona south of the

San Bernardino Freeway (10)

Another new Assembly district is the 61st, which also includes Chino, Chino Hills and part of Ontario. Pomona Mayor Donna Smith is seeking the Republican nomination against Chino Mayor Fred Aguiar and Ontario Councilman Gus Skropos.

Registration is nearly evenly split between Democrats and Republicans, but observers say those figures usually translate into Republican victories.

Nevertheless, the Democratic nominee will have a chance and the contenders are Bob Erwin, a county probation officer from Chino; Curtis Machlan, a Chinco Hills businessman, and Larry Simcoe, a firefighter from Chino.

Cynthia Allaire, an office manager who lives in Claremont, is running for the Green Party nomination.

41st Congressional

Diamond Bar, Rowland Heights and

most of Pomona south of the

San Bernardino Freeway (10)

Reaportionment gave the San Gabriel Valley part of a new, strongly Republican congressional district that reaches from the east into San Bernardino and Orange counties.

The leading early contenders are former assemblyman Charles W. Bader of Pomona; James V. Lacy, who was an attorney with the U. S. Department of Commerce before moving to Yorba Linda to run for this seat, and Diamond Bar Mayor Jay Kim. Other Republicans in the field are John Hoover, a businessman and author from Fullerton; George Henry Margolis, hospital administrator from Yorba Linda, and James Todhunter, a business owner from Irvine.

Also running are Democrat Bob Baker, a defense analyst from Anaheim, and Peace and Freedom candidate Mike Noonan, a pharmacist from Claremont.

27th Congressional

Pasadena and Altadena

In the 27th Congressional District, which extends west to the Santa Clarita Valley, Rep. Carlos Moorhead (R-Glendale) is facing primary opposition from former Monterey Park councilman Barry L. Hatch, a teacher; Lionel Allen Jr., a disabled veteran from Los Angeles, and Louis Morelli of Glendale.

The Democratic race is between John Grula, a Pasadena research scientist and Doug Kahn, an Altadena businessman.

There are also two minor party candidates: Dennis Decherd, a computer system analyst from Pasadena in the Libertarian Party and Margaret L. Edwards of Altadena in the Peace and Freedom Party.

28th Congressional

Temple City, Monrovia, Arcadia

Glendora, San Dimas, La Verne

Claremont, Covina, West Covina

Walnut

Rep. David Dreier (R-La Verne) is unopposed in the Republican primary but will face opposition in November.

Kevin Dockery, a businessman from Walnut; Tommy L. Randle, a business owner from San Dimas, and Albert (Al) Wachtel, a college teacher from La Verne, are seeking the Democratic nomination.

Also running are Walter Sheasby, a labor economist from Sierra Madre, in the Green Party and Thomas J. Dominy, a pharmaceutical representative from Rosemead, in the Libertarian Party.

Three incumbents are running unopposed in the June primary, but will face opposition in November. Their opponents also are running unopposed in their party primaries.

34th Congressional

Hacienda Heights, South El Monte

south to Santa Fe Springs

Esteban Torres (D-Pico Rivera), incumbent; J. (Jay) Hernandez, Republican, Whittier businessman; Carl M. Swinney, Libertarian, Whittier radiologic technologist.

21st State Senate

Pasadena, South Pasadena

San Marino, Altadena

La Canada Flintridge

Newton R. Russell (R-Glendale), incumbent; Rachel J. Dewey, Democrat, Pasadena scientist; James R. (Bob) New, Libertarian, Glendale businessman, and Jan B. Tucker, Peace and Freedom, Toluca Lake licensed private investigator.

29th State Senate

Walnut, Diamond Bar, West Covina

Rowland Heights, Covina, San Dimas

La Verne, Claremont, Glendora

Monrovia, Arcadia

Frank Hill (R-Whittier), incumbent; Sandy Hester, Democrat, Claremont business owner.

59th Assembly

Arcadia, Monrovia, Glendora, La Verne

San Dimas, Claremont, Covina

Richard Mountjoy (R-Monrovia), incumbent; Louise Gelber, Democrat, Arcadia attorney.